Robert Francis Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV, was named as the pope following the abdication of Pope Francis in August this year.
Within two hours of his announcing, people were searching for his social media history.
A friend of the author sent a screenshot of a Facebook profile apparently belonging to the new Pope, with one public picture showing him sat on a pony.
The author, who is not Catholic, laments the lack of mystery or mysticism in this kind of digital background checking, and struggles to square the idea of scrutinising the social media of such an ancient religious figure.
He concludes, however, that this is the world we now live in, and that it is not just politicians, or celebrities, or even work colleagues that have their histories checked and shared.